PENDLETON, Ind. —
The South Madison Community School Corp. board didn’t waste any time getting new member Bill Hutton involved.
The board unanimously voted Hutton in during its meeting at the Administration Office, 203 S. Heritage Way, Thursday night. He was sworn in during the meeting and took his seat on the board.
President Chris Boots said it was a hard decision to make since there were so many great candidates to choose from.
“We started with 12 and, as painstaking as it was, narrowed it to four,” he said. “Unfortunately, we can only select one at this time.”
Hutton jumped in right away to ask some questions after Heather Lucas, assistant principal at Maple Ridge Elementary, gave a presentation about making some changes to the elementary schools’ high ability program.
Currently, the elementary schools are using the cluster model in grades kindergarten through second and the reach multi-age model in grades third through sixth. The proposed change is to use the cluster model for all high ability elementary grade levels by 2013-14.
With the reach multi-age model, Lucas said students may be outstanding in their current grade-level work, but then skip a grade and a half and “all of a sudden, have a lot of anxieties, a lot of fears of failure.”
With the cluster model, she said they’d dig deeper into what they are learning rather than learning it at a faster rate.
No vote was taken Thursday regarding those proposed changes.
Hutton replaces Mike Gaskill, who resigned to fill a vacancy on the Madison County Council.
He said he wants to be a positive force for the board and looks forward to helping the district continue to evolve.
There are high expectations for the district and kids, he added.
“It’s exciting right now,” Hutton said. “(But) I know there are some hurdles out there to come up to speed on soon.”
For now, he said he wants to get caught up on the issues for the next school board meeting.
The other board members and finalists congratulated Hutton, and Margaret Eversole, president of the South Madison Classroom Teachers Association, stood to welcome him back in what she called a different capacity.
A former teacher and administrator of South Madison Schools, Hutton is currently substituting at the middle and elementary schools and supervising student teachers from Ball State University.
“Thank you, Bill,” Eversole said. “The teachers are looking forward to working with you again.”
Some of the board members also thanked the other finalists for their interest.
Board member Joel Sandefur said he hoped they continued to show interest in the district and wished them luck in their future pursuits.
Contact Dani Palmer: 640-4847, dani.palmer@heraldbulletin.com
Local Education
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New South Madison Community School Corporation board member Bill Hutton listens to fellow school board members at Thursday night's meeting at the Administrative Services Center in Pendleton. David Humphrey
Discussion
South Madison welcomes new school board member
Bill Hutton chosen during Thursday meeting
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